– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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NEW YORK — No matter how far the New York Yankees try to stay away from Rafael Devers, his thunderous swing continues to haunt the Big Apple at a frighteningly alarming rate. The latest scourge of New York wearing “Boston” across his chest was particularly going to be heard from on Sunday, a day where the Red Sox are all but invincible.
Devers hit two solo home runs, with the blast in the top of the seventh inning the icebreaker in the Red Sox’s 3-0 victory over the New York Yankees on Sunday night inside Yankee Stadium. Ceddanne Rafaela sandwiched Devers’ homers in the seventh and ninth with a solo shot in the eighth as Boston took two of three in the series and are now an MLB-best 14-5 since June 15.
Furthermore, Boston tied a Major League record, with three other teams, by winning its 14th Sunday game in its first 15 contests of a season occurring on that day of the week.
Devers now has 16 career home runs in the Bronx, tied with another left-handed-hitting Boston legend, David Ortiz, for the most home runs in a career by a visiting player at the new Yankee Stadium. In his last 10 games in the Bronx, Devers is hitting .463 (19 for 41) with seven homers and 10 runs batted in.
His first home run of the night came off Yankees starter Luis Gil with one out in the seventh inning, lifting a 2-2 fastball the opposite way and just over the left-field wall to break the deadlock.
In the ninth inning, Devers yanked a pitch that was almost 18 inches off the plate and above the strike zone and pulled it into right-center field, landing in the bullpen for his second homer of the evening.
“We know what type of ballpark this is,” Devers said through a translator. “This is one of the best in the league. Everything feels better than any other ballpark.”
The three home runs were more than enough for Red Sox starter Kutter Crawford, who threw seven scoreless innings while allowing four hits and striking out four and did not walk a hitter. Crawford threw just 68 pitches in his seven innings of work, with 54 of them going for strikes.
“I feel that’s probably the most efficient I’ve ever been,” Crawford said. “A year or two out, I was probably throwing 30 or 40 pitches in one inning, but it feels good to throw a bunch of strikes and get a lot of early outs like that.”
Less than a month ago, the Yankees were 28 games over the .500 mark (49-21) and held the best record in the league, but since that high watermark on June 12, the Bombers have gone a Major League-worst 6-16, with tonight’s loss completing a 1-5 homestand. Gil lost his fourth consecutive start after beginning the season 9-1, allowing just that one run, on Devers’ first homer, and four hits while striking out nine in 6 2/3 innings.
“It’s tough,” New York right fielder Juan Soto said. “Everybody’s aware of what we’re going through but I think the energy is still up.”
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Sunday evening’s game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Roberto Carlo. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 37 pictures in total.
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